Weed-destroyer brush for railways.



No. 767,178. PATENTED AUG. 9, 1904.

G. D. SMITH. WEED DESTROYER BRUSH FOR RAILWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 24, I903.

NO MODEL.

Patented August 9, 1904.

PATENT OEEIcE.

CHARLES D. SMITH, OF FOND DU LAC, WISCONSIN.

WEED-DESTROYER BRUSH FOR RAILWAYS,

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 767,178, dated August 9, 1904. Application filed February 24, 1903. Serial No. 144,860. (No model.)

To It whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES D. SMITH, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Fond du Lac, in the county of Fond du Lac and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Weed-Destroyer Brushes for Railways; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention has for its object to provide a metallic brush that may be readily adjusted to either end of a street-railway or steam-railway car for the purpose of keeping the track between the rail clear of vegetable growth, which under present conditions in the rural districts is a source of great annoyance; and it consists in certain peculiarities of construction and combination of parts, to be fully set forth hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings and subsequently claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is an end view, partly in section, of a portion of a car, showing my improved weed-destroying brush attached thereto; and Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same in section on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1.

Referring by letter to the drawings, A rep resents a series of wires secured to a beam B to form a brush which extends across the width of the track, and securedto the beam B, at either end thereof, are brackets E E, which are bored at a right angle to the aforesaid beam.

A pair of guide-rods D D are secured beneath the platform F of the car, upon which the brackets E E are fitted, and at'the extreme end of said rods are placed collars 0, through which braces (Z are run, the latter being fastened to the platform, so as to insure rigidity of the entire device when inoperation.

As it is essential that the brush should be capable of vertical adjustment, I have for the purpose bolted to the center of the beam B a clip a, to which is pivoted a handle C, which projects up through a slot in the floor of the platform, and upon one edge thereof I provide a series of teeth 6, which are held in engagement with a plate 0 by means of a spring 0.

By the above description it will be readily understood that the brush may be raised or lowered, as desired, by the operator and held in any position by the plate 0 and teeth a of the handle, and in operation the brush is dropped down so that the wires will just scrape the ground, (it being preferable to secure the device at the rear of the car,) and when the car is in motion the brush will effectively whip or out the weeds, &c. The flexible pendent steels strike below the surface of the ties between and to the side of the rails, bending back and springing forward as the car progresses, and the strength of the blow is determined by the speed of the car. 7

While I have shown and described in detail one means of attaching my device to a car, I do not wish to confine myself to this exact construction, as I may without departing from the spirit of my invention vary such arrangement and detail of parts.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a weed-destroyer for railways, a brush composed of a plurality of flexible pendent steels secured to a beam, and means for adjustably securing said beam to acar; said flexible pendent steels being of sufficient length to strike the track-surface below the surface of the ties, when said beam is in lowered position.

2. In a weed-destroyer for railways, a brush composed of flexible pendent steels secured to a beam, guides for the beam secured to a car, a lever pivoted to said beam, the lever ratchettoothed on one side thereof, said ratchet-teeth held against the keeper by leaf-spring a, whereby the flexible pendent steels are held in position and raised or lowered.

- In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES D. SMITH.

Witness es:

C. A. SMITH, SWAYNE SMITH. 

